Defence and military veterans minister Thandi Modise has warned that deep budget cuts will see the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) struggle to play a role in humanitarian relief efforts, should natural disasters such as the recent devastating floods in KwaZulu-Natal occur in future.
The SANDF, which is primarily responsible for defending SA against external military aggression, often plays a leading role in humanitarian relief and rebuilding efforts.
In April, 10,000 troops were deployed in KwaZulu-Natal to help with rescue and rebuilding operations, following torrential rains that left more than 400 people dead and thousands homeless.
At the height of the controversial Covid-19 restrictions, the army was also deployed to prevent crime and enforce the lockdown rules, costing taxpayers more than R600m.
Delivering the budget vote for the department of defence in parliament on Tuesday, Modise said that unless there were a significant financial intervention, the cupboard would remain bare, meaning the SANDF — which is housed in her department — could be unable to fulfil some of its obligations in future.
The department of defence has a budget of about R49bn for the current financial year, a slight increase on the R46bn allocated the previous year. In recent years, its budget allocations have been declining in real terms, a situation that is not helped by rising military personnel costs and poor financial controls. It has‚ over the years‚ been hit by a string of negative audit reports‚ ranging from qualified to disclaimer‚ which is the worst possible audit outcome.
Modise highlighted that over recent years, the SANDF had been called upon to support civil interventions to ensure the delivery of basic services.
“We are contributing to African peace missions. We have assisted the North West province with health services, the department of water and sanitation with the Vaal river cleanup project, the National Disaster Management Centre has called on SANDF to assist during the Covid-19 pandemic and we are still involved in the KwaZulu-Natal flood relief,” Modise said.
She said those deployments also come at great cost to the equipment needs and funding of the SANDF.
“There is often little or no reimbursement delivered. This puts the SANDF under great pressure ... we have a dire shortage of critical equipment currently, not to speak of future disasters and continuous climate change events; for example, tents, water purification and distribution systems are critically low. Serviceable airframes and flying hours are also in a critical state,” Modise said.
“The SANDF will be ‘hard-pressed’ to respond to critical events in other provinces should the need arise. I state this with a very heavy heart — we are willing but we lack resources,” the minister said.
She added that there could be no doubt that there was a widening dichotomy between that which the SANDF is expected to achieve and the resources that are provided to achieve those expectations.
“SANDF is being spread so thin,” Modise said.
Modise said she had instructed the chief of the national defence force to provide her with an urgent and detailed military “appreciation” of what it will take for the army to assist the citizens in the event of man-made and natural disasters in the future.
The department is also looking at ways to cut costs including retiring more senior stuff.
“Simply put, we need to retire more senior staff and recruit more young and agile people. I thus require the department to advise me on who must stay and who must exit the system. I require this information for my engagements with the ministers of finance and public service and administration,” she said.
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